United’s nonstop service between New York/Newark and Cape Town will decrease the current travel time from New York to Cape Town by more than four hours and provide customers from more than 80 U.S. cities with easy one-stop access to Cape Town.
This will be a great boost for Cape Town’s tourism industry. In 2017 Cape Town International Airport (CTIA) surpassed the 5 million arrivals mark for the 12-month period and demonstrated excellent growth overall. Arrivals on international flights to Cape Town has been the hero story in recent year, recording 25% growth year-on-year.
Tim Harris, Wesgro CEO, said in the press release that this is a game-changer, as “North America was one of the largest unserved markets for Cape Town and the Western Cape, with the USA, ranked as the 3rd largest market for inbound passengers to Cape Town International Airport in 2017.”
Harris says a direct flight to North America would “add an estimated 24 000 passengers, which was 20% of the 2018 market.” That translates into an estimated R283 million in direct tourism to the Cape economy in the first year.
This also means nearly 900 new jobs in the province during the route’s first year of operation, as well as increase direct and indirect imports to the region.
